▼（original English）P7/13▼

church-planting. BTJ may not be an illusion but it seems a grand diversion from the cutting-edge of ministry in China today. (I do not deny for some that it will be right to go overseas in mission but 100,000?)

ILLEGALITY

The key spokespersons for BTJ (Brothers X. Y and Z) all left China and arrived in the US or Europe illegally. Brother X. even boasts about how he apparently sailed through immigration in Germany without the right documents. We can sympathise with house-church leaders who have suffered years in prison in China and for whom this may be the only realistic way of leaving China and spreading their message. But when they boast that 100,000 evangelists will also leave China illegally this is a matter of serious concern.

Brother X. himself states: “In the same way that I brought you out of prison and out of China I will bring 100,000 of my children out of China to be my witnesses throughout Asia.” (p.70, BTJ, Hattaway.)

This question was raised with Brother Q., Brother X’s spokesman,in Norway in 2002:

CHRISTIAN REPORTER: Why do you have to be so secret?

BROTHER Q: We are talking about people who do not have permission to leave China and who stay illegally in the countries where they are missionaries.

REPORTER: Is this not a problem?

Q: The calling is so strong they leave everything behind in China.

REPORTER: How can they live underground?

Q: They get themselves a new identity. Chinese Christians cannot support them economically therefore they must have work and support themselves.

(Vart Land, Oslo, 23 September 2002)

In a later issue of the same Christian newspaper, the leaders of BTJ are quoted as saying:

“The Chinese missionaries who will work under cover in these countries [overseas] need to be protected against Western Christians who could reveal them.” (Vart Land, 26 November 2003)

These statements that up to 100,000 BTJ Chinese missionaries will leave China illegally and assume new identities, which must mean false papers and passports, are deeply disturbing. They may be explained, perhaps, by the decades of persecution suffered by the house-church movement in Henan so that it has become second-nature to operate illegally just to survive. But this surely reveals a disturbing naivete about the realities of mission work in Central Asia and the Middle East. How many (largely Muslim) governments are going to allow mass illegal immigration on this scale?

A mass emigration of illegal missionaries from China on the scale envisaged has to be master-minded by someone. It is here that the likely scenario becomes positively sinister. Dr K. a respected Chinese Christian in Hong Kong who has written several well-received books on the church in China has privately warned me that there is already a flourishing trade in smuggling rural Christians out of China. He writes:

“Before this BTJ movement there were many Christians (mostly from a Little Flock background [i.e. the church founded by Watchman Nee]) from Fujian who went

▼(checked ChinseseTranslation) P7/13▼

植堂。 BTJ或許並非幻象，但它似乎與當今中國事工的前沿截然不同。 （我不否認有些人認為出國宣教是正確的，但會是10萬人？）

非法性

BTJ的主要發言人（X、Y和Z弟兄）都離開中國，非法抵達美國或歐洲。 X弟兄甚至誇耀自己如何在沒有合法證件的情況下順利通過德國移民局的審查。我們可以同情那些在中國坐牢多年的家庭教會領袖，對他們來說，這或許是離開中國傳福音的唯一現實途徑。但當他們誇耀10萬宣教士也將非法離開中國時，這確實是一個值得嚴重關注的問題。

X弟兄自己也曾說：「就像我把你們從監獄和中國帶出來的方法一樣，我也將把我的10萬個孩子帶出中國，在亞洲各地作我的見證。」（第70頁，BTJ，哈特威）

這個問題是2002年在挪威向X弟兄的發言人Q弟兄提出的：

基督教記者：你們為什麼要如此隱密？

Q弟兄：我們談論的是那些沒有獲准離開中國並在其宣教國家非法居留的人。

記者：這不成問題嗎？

問：呼召是如此強烈，以至於他們拋下留在中國的一切。

記者：他們如何能過地下式的隱藏生活呢？

問：他們為自己取了新的身分。中國基督徒無法在經濟上支持他們，因此他們必須工作養活自己。

（瓦特蘭德，奧斯陸，2002年9月23日）

在同一份基督教報紙的後續一期中，BTJ領導人被引述如下：

「在這些（海外）國家秘密工作的中國宣教士需要受到保護，以免西方基督徒暴露他們。」 （瓦特蘭德，2003年11月26日）

多達10萬名BTJ中國宣教士將非法離開中國，並盜用新身分（這必然意味著使用假證件和護照）的說法令人深感不安。或許，河南家庭教會運動數十年來遭受迫害，以至於為了生存而非法活動已成為他們的第二天性。但這無疑地暴露了人們對中亞和中東宣教工作現狀令人不安的天真。有多少（主要是穆斯林）政府會允許如此規模的大規模非法移民？

如此大規模的非法宣教士從中國移民，必然有人主謀。正是在這種情況下，可能出現的情況才變得極為險惡。 K博士是一位受人尊敬的香港華人基督徒，他撰寫了幾本關於中國教會的廣受好評的書籍，他私下警告我，將農村基督徒偷運出中國的貿易已經十分猖獗。他寫道：

「在這場『歸回耶路撒冷』運動之前，許多來自福建的基督徒（大多來自小群教會[即倪柝聲創立的教會]）。。。